Fic: Through Quartz, Sand, Cellulose (1/1)

[fujiidom]

Title: Through Quartz, Sand, and Cellulose

Pairing/Character: Sheldon/Penny
Rating: MA
Word Count: ~12,000 (Believe me, I know.)
Summary: Sheldon gets some help dealing with leftover grief of his father's death from Penny. Lifelong friendship ensues. One-shot.
Spoilers: Minor spoilers throughout, kind of AU by the end

A/N: Hey, so I had a death in the family (grandfather, almost not as bad as parents, like there's a way to judge) and this is how I deal with my issues. Ha. These two just seem like very innocent and delicate with one another's grief that the progression seemed natural to me. Sorry if it's kind of depressing, or takes any leaps in character that you didn't find convincing. I did it all for my own amusement, honestly, so whatever. Also, The Wolf by Miniature Tigers kind of egged me on to make it more than just the build-up, so if you enjoy a good epilogue/ending, thank them not me. Oh, yeah and I have a series I was supposed to be working on, whoops. Take this while I fix up the next chapter of that in the mean time!
 

(Too large for livejournal, so read here and if you want to comment here, or there, whatever. Just enjoy it!)

Comments

[cereal.livejournal.com]

dude. DUDE. DUDE.

i have so much to say about this story and stuff and so I will just start here: i can't comment on fanfiction.net, it makes me sad inside, i don't know why. so i am commenting here!

moving on, i'm really sorry to hear about your grandpa, i don't mean any disrespect by like, squealing about this story.

i was totally saving this to read in some sort of half-thought way, like i'd read it on the weekend or something when i wasn't sleepy from work or whatever, but kairos103 had commented on my journal that i had to read it NOW DROP EVERYTHING NOW and so i went to go read it.

AND I AM GLAD I DID. it was sad (obviously, but which i don't often like because i am easily influenced by things and then like, get sad) but in such a pretty way and such a true way and oh man, i feel like i'm being incoherent?

i loved the whole bottle thing and penny helping him and sheldon's letter to his dad and how you've written so that the reader just like, feels everything. it's really easy to follow along with the emotions and thought processes and that makes it even more wonderful. and it was hot and there were emotions and everything fit so nicely together that there wasn't a moment where i felt pulled out of the story.

and oh god, the last part. THE LAST PART. i don't generally read anything where time jumps like, 10 years (because holy shit how much did i hate the harry potter epilogue: A LOT) but this was so good and i wanted to know what was going to happen and then EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER'S STORY WAS AMAZING. oh god. i don't even know how to explain how happy it made me. raj! HOWARD'S WEDDING. oh god, everything.

this was amazing and it was literally all the things i didn't know i wanted in a big bang fic or don't normally want in any kind of fic or whatever and somehow it is now ALL THESE THINGS THAT I LOVE. \o/

AWESOME!

[fujiidom.livejournal.com]

Um, wow, you're awesome. First of all, it's so sweet that people are telling you to drop things and read my silly fanfiction, but that's incredibly cool at the same time. I'm a dork! I'm glad you did!

Yeah, I needed a catalyst for dealing with the letter and somehow it just popped into my brain, probably because they live near a beach and I'd tried to incorporate that into previous stuff between them, but it felt forced so I'd dropped it. This felt like the natural order of their relationship (in my own little fantasy world, of course) and something about how still the beach is paired with how rough and dark the ocean was, at the time, it all kind of fell into place. It's one of those things that tends to take a life of its own, basic plot points aside.

I wasn't sure if it'd come across as too hokey (part of why I had Sheldon brush it off as such, for just a second), but I'm happy people found it emotional and not as trite as message in a bottle love stories tend to be.

Yeah, I had everything written, but I had been listening to the song I linked above for so long throughout the writing process that I felt like I hadn't gotten to why Penny had been so affected by the whole situation. She's a kind hearted, empathetic person, sure, but the back end of the story got me to explain just how strong she could've been reacting, showing you that what she felt for him wasn't hysterics or drama queen, just a friend caring for a friend. Well, friend in the groping and humping on a beach sense, that is.

I felt like I had kind of robbed the plot and made it almost too Penny/Sheldon-centric. Of course they're who I'm writing about, but the world doesn't revolve around them. That's kind of the thesis of it all, really. The two of them figuring out how to work so well in their own lives that their success in friendship was kind of overshadowing their romance.

Whenever Penny finally gave up dating (which is probably like 7 years into the vows of silence, in my head), they were practically together already. Hell, even when she was dating, it just wasn't that serious yet.

That's a lot to say about someone else's characters, but whatever. This story is very personal to me and I'm touched that you enjoyed it so much! Thanks again for all the kindness!